jbaldwin

Last year I got a one year extension on investment grounds (3 million baht in a fixed deposit) just before this type of visa was withdrawn. I have two questions:

At the time I was told that although this type of visa had been withdrawn existing holders could continue to renew. Has anyone actually been able to renew since October 2006

I applied for the orginal extension in Bangkok. Can I apply this year in Pattaya

The low cost option normally means flying to Macau and then getting the ferry

The SIPP would be a foreign entity and therefore cannot own land in Thailand under the foreign ownership rules.

Its only 4 hours on the bus so if you are going city centre to city centre this is likely to be better than flying.

I have also not heard of either.

The message you should be getting from the relies is that they are not in a central location and certainly not anywhere that a falang is likely to walk past

You only need an outbound ticket if you enter Thailand on without a Visa on a 30 stamp. If you have a visa tourist or non-im you do not need a ticket.

Both BA and Emirates have checked that a had a visa when I have arrived on a single ticket (or the second half of a retern)

My understanding is that this is not correct.

The key point is that there are different rules for earned income (salaries etc) and unearned income (eg investment income) and that pension income, if the contributions were made from a UK salary, are treated as earned income.

Earned income from the UK is subject to UK tax whether are not you are resident and ordinarally resident.

I opened an account at Siam Commerical Bank, Jomtien Branch last month.

I would suggest Pattaya Clinical Labs on Pattaya-Naklua Road. Many of the clinics in Pattaya send blood tests here. If you cut out the middle man you get quicker results and pay about half the price

I own a unit in Thabali condo. I understand that Jomtien Metro is managed by the same company that managed Thabali before our Committee terminated their contract around six months ago. Please PM me if you want more information about the reasons for the change here

Nationwide say that cards take two weeks from order to delivery. However, my experience is that it takes 4-6 days

I also use my parents' address. Whenever I am in the UK I always report all of my cards as damaged so that I get replacements with the long expiry dates. This way I never have to problem of having to get cards posted to Thailand

Air Asia will be the cheapest particular if you book during one of there many special offers.

When I went last year, I avoided the overnight stop in KL but flying Bangkok to Penang then getting to overnight sleeper train to KL and flying to Bali the following day.

The import duty is fairly low and I beleive will be eliminated over time for imports and Australia and New Zealand under the Free Trade Agreements.

Excise Duty, which applies to all wines whether imported or locally produced, is much higher and I believe is linked both to price and alcohol content.

Not sure what the rule change is. The rule was that you could only spend 90 days in Thailand on 30 day stamp (not maximum of three stamps). You do not give information about the lenght of your previous stays.

Cebu Pacific currently has Bangkok to Manila for 795 baht plus taxes each way.

Check http://www.cebupacificair.com/index.html for details

I suggest that arrange to pay in cash and collect tickets at the same time. This is normally practice and the only reasonable way to protect yourself.

If you have an e-ticket then contact the airline directly to check a booking has been made before parting with any cash

7,000,000 baht. I make that 350 visits to an ATM machine. Not bad while drunk

Many thanks for your reply. I also am not understanding what internal issues cannot be known by the other co-owners.

May I ask some more questions?

1. At your Management Committee Meetings does your manager submit financial statements for your review?

Yes. The Committee receives monthly financial statements

2. Before the AGM, does the Management Committee (MC) send a copy of the audited accounts to the co-owners?

The Committee has decided that we should not go to the expense of an annual audit. It is worth pointing out that Committee members are the sole signitories to the bank accounts of the condo and consequently the management company has no access to any funds (other than petty cash). Our Committee believes that this is an essential control.

3. Is the Auditor present at the AGM to answer co-owners' questions?

N/A

4. At what point at the AGM is the new MC elected (if it is a year for new elections)?

After the old Committee has reported on the previous years finances and activities

5. Are "Common Expense" and "Sinking Fund" kept separate with separate bookkeeping and auditing?

We do not have a sinking fund - the developer did not establish one when the units were first sold. The last AGM voted to establish one and I would expect for the money raised to be accounted for separately

6. Is the MC duty bound to continue the AGM so long as co-owners have questions or can the Chairman say "That's enough" and get up and walk away?

I think that technically there are certain thing that must be done at an AGM (set out the the condo rules) and when they have been done, the legal requirements for the AGM have been completed. However, we make clear at our AGM that we will deal with any queries co-owners wish to raise.

7. If it is wrong that Chairman decides AGM has gone on long enough what can co-owners do?

We would not operate in this manner

8. How many units at ThaiBali?

166 - Although we are legal separate, we share staff, manager and some other expenses with Chateau Dale, which is a similar size

9. What Management Company do you employ? How long have you had present Mngmnt Co?

We have employed ESC since 1/10/06. For background the developer acted as manager until May 2005. When it decided it no long wishes to act we engaged a major Thai owned property manager (who I understand manage a number of large condo developments in Pattaya). We found there service to be unsatisfactory and terminated their contract after a little more than a year.

Many thanks and regards.

More condo questions for co-owners:

Is your condo's Management Committee (MC) Meetings open to co-owners where they can, in the first half hour or so, express their concerns to the MC?

Can co-owners stay and listen to MC deliberations? If not, why not? What reasons have MC given for not allowing co-owners to be present.

Do you receive Minutes of Meeting?

How often does MC meet?

Are any MC meetings closed to co-owners because it is discussing "internal matters"?

Is it necessary to speak Thai to get on MC?

Does MC meet in Pattaya/Jomthien or in Bangkok?

If MC meets in Bangkok do members travelling from Pattaya/Jomthien get travel and meal reimbursed?

If you, as a co-owner, are not allowed to attend MC meetings how do you communicate with your MC to express any concerns you have regarding upkeep and running of the condo?

If one is really interested in the common good and would like to be a MC member how does one go about it? Is it 'kosher' here in Thailand to send curriculum vitae to all the other co-owners?

Will look forward to your replies. Many thanks.

I am on the Commitee of Thabali, the development in front of Chateau Dale

We have Committee meeting once a month (although likely to be reduced one every other month shortly). Committee meetings are conducted in English. Of our nine Committee members only one is Thai and five are native English speakers. They take place in Jomtien.

Co-owners are not generally invited to attend but if any co-owner has an issue they wish to raise with the Committee they can ask to attend (and no request has every been refused)

Minutes (only produced in English) are available to any co-owner on request. We have recently started a e-mail list so that co-owners who choose to sign up, will receive minutes for each meeting authomatically by e-mail.

The Condo act set a maximum number of nine on that Committee. We have found at AGM we never get more than this to be interested. This year two co-owners expressed an interest in joining the Committee hence we just increase the size of the Committee from seven to nine to allow this.

No Committee member receives any expenses or other payment.

I am not sure what "internal issue" could be. Surely Committee's interest are expectly the same as co-owners. However, a would not like co-owners to attend if staff issue were being discussed. Also our Committee has had private meetings (without any management company involvment) when we wish to discuss the performance of the management company.

I am on the Executive Committee of a Jomtien Condo. I have a few comments:

Are you sure that it is the Committee that are skimming off. Is a management company involved? Is the Committee being dishonest or just failing to supervise the management company effectively.

There must be an AGM each year. This will normally include elections for Committee members (unless the Condo rule specifically appoint Committee members for fixed period).

You can require an EGM any time with 10% of co-owners votes

Remember all Committee members must be co-owners. It is surprising there have been no changes in the Committee in 15 years. We have had cases where Committee Members have had to resign following the sale of their units.

I think the biggest problem to change will be getting enough co-owners to be suffiently interested to turn up to meeting and vote on issues

If there is a sinking fund then you would expect to have accounting information about but these funds would normally be showned separately from the normal operating accounts. I would expect interest - although this could either be added to the sinking fund or transferred to the account operating accounts. Where unexpected large maintenance expenditure is required, this would normally be paid out of the sinking fund and then a future AGM would decide whether the sinking fund should be topped up by a levy of co-owners, a transfer from annual budget or be left at the reduced level.

If you want to meet and discuss our experiences then please PM me.

I am the Chairman of the Executive Committee of a Condo in Jomtien.

We changed between Thai owed security firm a number of times because of poor performance. Eventually moved to ESC, a falang owned firm which proved much better (but more expensive)

Please PM if you want more details

You can only make a SWIFT transfer from your flex account. You can download the form from the internet. They will only accept hard copy.

You general get much better rates by transferring Sterling and allowing the Thai bank to convert.

If you are transferring fairly small amounts, you get a better rate by using an ATM (£300 per day max). This is because, unlike other UK banks, there are no overseas ATM charges

I deal has been done to reopen Sihanoukville Airport. At present the only plannned services are domestic flights to Siem Reap. There has been talk about the possibly of international flights at some unsecified future date. However, the runway at Sihanoukville is too short for 737's to land, which reduces options for any airline wishing to fly to Bangkok

Why do you go ahead with the transaction on these terms?

You say that you were cheated but it was up to you whether do wanted to do business on this basis.